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Exit Scotch Ale #016...Manilla Road - The Deluge

It’s 36 degrees celsius in the shade in Melbourne today. I love this shit. And I’m drinking after work because it’s what I do, man. And now I’m sampling this beauty - Exit’s Scotch Ale. Yes, it’s a colder-weather brew but I’m not fussy - hell, I drink stout in 40 degrees.

I must admit that I’m back on the smokes, so my tastebuds are a bit muted. Nevertheless, this is a delightful beer. Dense in taste and mouthfeel, deep in colour and with an earthy and yeasty aroma that carries over into the taste as well. Bitter enough to keep you interested and it’s balanced well with a sweetness at the end of the sip. I can’t admit to having a whole hell of a lot of experience with scotch ales but this seems to tick all the boxes, and not in a perfunctory way either. Recommended if you like heavy ales with a bit of a sweet kick. And again, I don’t know much about this brewery, but apparently this is a more streamlined version of one of their first brews as a fledgling outfit. It makes me regret not checking them out sooner as I would have loved to compare this brew to their original one.

And here’s Manilla Road’s 1986 album, The Deluge. I’ve reviewed this band before. You all know the major hard-on I have for them. Every metalhead worth their salt has at least heard of them, even if they don’t like them. And yes, they have many detractors as well as many foaming-at-the-mouth fanboys. I’m closer to the latter than the former but I don’t accept every shit they take on a plate and call it a masterpiece (as some of their later releases have been closer to than even I care to admit). That being said, between 1983 and 1988 I reckon they were untouchable. This album carries on with their trademark themes - power/heavy metal with thrashy influences with a spacey guitar tone that is both totally 80s and yet like nothing else in that era at the same time, Mark Shelton’s trademark nasal delivery and weird and wonderful fantastical/Lovecraftian/classical/anything else weird and fucked-up lyrical themes. It has quite a few quite short songs that hit you with their intensity, which leaves you enjoying the longer epic cuts like “The Deluge” and “Friction in Mass” even more. This release seems to be a bit overlooked, even by fans, but it’s always one of those that I spin and then wonder, “why don’t I listen to this more?”.

As always for Manilla Road, recommended if you like heavy metal that’s a little...esoteric.

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Exit IPA...Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power

Yes, it’s December. Yes I’m a bad reviewer. I’m okay with this.

First the beer - a blind purchase. I’ve never heard of this mob but if this beer is anything to go by, I should have by now. This is a pretty standard West Coast of the USA-style IPA - strongly hopped, resiny-flavoured, bitter at the end, and at a hefty 7% ABV. It’s a pleasant drink if you’re a hop-head like yours truly, but I imagine anyone who’s not a fan of the style won’t be bought over. NOt much else to say really - I like this beer a lot, and I’ll seek it out (and others of theirs - I actually have a scotch ale by the same mob that I haven’t tried yet) if I can find it at a decent price. Which...is probably not going to happen any time soon.

And as usual, the beer bears no relation to the album. I just wanted to listen to this one.

This is the only Stooges album I own (or, if I’m being honest, have actually heard) and it’s a doozy. So I should own more, but you know, I’m the laziest record collector ever. This reissue is probably pretty faithful to the original, in that it sounds like utter shit. The production is all over the place, the playing is sloppy, and a lot of the cuts are amateurish and you can tell they were all high as kites when making/recording it. It’s anarchic and intense and, in my opinion, brilliant. The terrible frenetic lead guitar is like a sharp knife through flesh and sits so uncomfortably above everything else that you can’t help but smile, as Iggy’s “I don’t give a good goddamn” vocals weave in and out at weird intervals and they all bash out proto-punk like they’re possessed. I love this record in all its crappy glory. Maybe that’s why I’m afraid to get any more Stooges’ stuff - I’m afraid that it just won’t hold up to the primitive bashing on this thing. I’ve read all the stories of their live shows and the violence and tension that they all contained and I can almost hear the jeers and the bottles striking heads as I listen to this record. Calling this a masterpiece is ridiculous but calling it a formative piece of extreme music certainly isn’t. Raw power, baby. Even if you hate it, this is one album you should hear before you die.